Incandescence
by scorchedmuse
Summary: A young woman and her teenage friend find John Allerdyce frostbitten and concussed on what used to be the Golden Gate Bridge. An offer of help is made, but will they soon regret it? Post X3, Angst, Humor, Drama, Romance, Friendship, Suspense
1. Chapter 1  An Offer Is Made

**Title: **Incandescence

**Author: **scorched muse

**Characters: **Pyro/John, OCs, Mystique/Raven Darkholme (later on), other Xmen characters later in the story.

**Summary: **A young woman and her teenage friend find John Allerdyce frostbitten and concussed on what used to be the Golden Gate Bridge. An offer of help is made, but will they soon regret it?

**Catagories: **Xmen Movieverse, Post Xmen 3, Angst, Humor, Drama, Romance, Friendship, Suspense

**Disclaimer: **Original characters Sidney, Benji/Jammer, and any others I create here are mine. John and other Xmen characters are not. They are the property of Marvel Comics.

**Feedback: **Much appreciated:)

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**Chapter 1 - An Offer Is Made**

**Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Night**

Abandoned cars were strewn on either side of the Golden Gate Bridge as if flicked aside by the finger of an angry god. It was unusually quiet on the normally bustling traffic magnet aside from a few cars left running in the frantic escape of their drivers. Creeping in between the vehicles, the petite figure of a young woman appeared.

As she snuck her way down the newly replanted bridge, which she was aware now went to Alcatraz - the knot in her stomach doubled over itself a few times. She did not want to be there, news reports had asked all civilians to stay away. But, as she knew, Benji never did watch the news.

"SHHHHT!" A military communicator crackled in the distance with a human voice inquiring, "Have you found any survivors?"

"That's a negative." The female soldier indicated solemnly.

"Look on the bright side soldier." the radio voice interjected.

"What's that?" She asked - walking directly in front of and past a turned over red sedan where the girl was now hiding.

The radio just crackled in response.

"Hey, Harper?" The soldier listened intently for a response but all that came was more static.

The young woman peeped out from the open windows of the sedan - suspicious that her friend must be nearby. She eyed a van directly in front of the female soldier - who was still calling into her malfunctioning radio in frustration.

The soldier smacked the side of the radio a few times then decided to return to the island. To her surprise the radio voice returned, growing clearer as she walked away from the site the disruption had begun.

"Hey. I got you back." She called back, pleased. "Repeat that Harper. What's the bright side?"

"I said at least it looks like we took out as many muties as they did us."

The soldier chuckled in response. "Yeah.. Right that is a bright side. Listen I'm heading back I'm having a lot of trouble with this radio. Piece of crap."

The girl peered over at the van's windows again. Inside it, a teenaged boy with dark curly hair, blue in shade, lifted his head just high enough over the back windows to allow him to be sure the soldier had left.

"Benjamin!" The girl said in a whispered shout as she burst in the door behind him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The boy clutched his chest at the surprise intrusion, "Jesus, Sidney you scared the crap out of me!"

"That's nothing compared to what those soldiers are going to do if they catch you. They might think you're involved in the attack, Benji."

"It's Jammer. I told you to call me Jammer." He protested vehemently but still being sure to keep at a whisper. Sidney's response, an agitated look, caused him to answer further with a slight whine to his voice. " It goes with my mutant skills."

"Fine Jammer. Now can we go?"

"Aren't you just a little curious?" Jammer appealed to her. "There has been some freaky shit going on over here. I'm telling you. And it's not just the bridge."

"As if that weren't enough." She scoffed, grabbing the collar of his t-shirt with the intention of pulling him out of the van with her. "Come on, we are going home before anyone else shows up."

They exited the van quietly, Jammer's protest now limited to a stern pout which Sidney had the sense to ignore. Arguing with him further would only delay them getting out of there. She worried less for herself than for her teenage friend. It was a bad time to be a mutant, and an even worse time to be a mutant caught at the site of a very public mutant attack.

Jammer followed her begrudgingly toward the other end of the bridge. They hadn't gone very far when a low but definite groan emanated from the darkness.

The tall teenager grabbed Sidney firmly around the shoulders as if for his protection. "What was that?!"

Another groan. "There it is again!" Jammer thought back to the ghost stories of Alcatraz he'd read in the past. "Did that sound like Al Capone's ghost?"

Sidney twisted her head to the side and back to chastise him. "You're afraid of ghosts but you're not afraid of a mutant who can move bridges?"

"Ghosts are scary, Sidney."

"Well it's definitely not a ghost." She pried his arms off of her and began to look for the origin of the sound. "I think someone's hurt."

She saw something move on the shadowed pavement by the side of the road. It was between the bridge and a convertible that had been tossed on its side. As they got closer they realized it was a young man, not any older than Sidney herself. He was lying on his stomach - barely conscious.

"Oh, God." Sidney rushed over to help. "Are you all right?" She inquired worriedly as she helped him turn onto his back. The bruise on the side of his head indicated a pretty forceful blow. "It's no wonder you're a little out of it."

"Hey what's with his hands?" Jammer pointed at the two frozen appendages lying dormant at either side of the stranger.

Sidney easily recognized the symptoms, "Frostbite."

"Frostbite?" Jammer was dumbfounded. "In San Francisco? In the middle of summer?"

"Don't ask me how, but it's definitely frostbite."

John Allerdyce groaned again, a sharp ache pulsing through the left side of his brain. He lifted his hand to feel his temple only to be confronted with what appeared to be a numb white claw. Water trickled between his fingers as the last of the ice was melting off. "What the-" He started, so astonished was he that Bobby had bested him in a fight, that he couldn't think of a bad enough curse word to finish the sentence.

"And probably a concussion." Sidney added. She reached through John's hands and touched the side of his chin to examine the damage to his face more closely. Up until then, he hadn't even registered that someone was even there.

"Hey," Jammer addressed him. "Hey kid."

"I'm not a kid." John snarled back.

"All right, Jeez."

As more of his faculties returned John finally noticed the brown eyed blonde examining his hands with both concern and curiosity. He jerked his hands away from her - quickly tucking them beneath his jacket.

"I'm trying to help you."

"What are you, friggin' Florence Nightingale?"

"No." She answered as sweetly as she could given the comment. "I'm Sidney and this is Ben-."

"Jammer!" The boy corrected her sharply.

"Jammer." She finished, trying to contain her annoyance with the both of them.

"Hey man," Jammer interrupted again, dying to ask the question. "How the hell'd you get frostbite?"

John ground his teeth a moment as he recalled. "Damned ice cube spewin' bastard took a cheap shot."

Sidney and Jammer looked at each other as if confused even more by the statement. She turned her attention back to the injured man. "We have to get you to the hospital."

"No." John shook his head. "No way." He fumbled to his knees and then to his feet. "I don't need a hospital."

"What? You need to be treated-" She protested.

"I'm a mutant," He answered over his shoulder. "They won't treat me they'll just try to cure me." As soon as he felt more steady on his feet he stepped forward away from the island.

"You can't just go off in this condition!"

"Watch me." He snapped, determined. But the sound of the girl's worried voice followed him.

"Even if your head is okay you have pretty bad frostbite, you could lose several of your fingers or even both of your hands in you don't get proper treatment."

Hearing this, John stopped walking to examine his hands again. The ice was melted away but his fingers still appeared pale and stiff. There was no feeling whatsoever on the surface. The aching in his head he was pretty sure he'd get over, but his hands… He tried to curl his fingers down into fists but only slight twitches resulted.

"Look, we won't bring you to the hospital if you don't want to go," Sidney assured him, "but I can't let you go like this."

John faced her: defeated, confused, even a little afraid. "What do you have in mind?"


	2. Chapter 2 Cold Hands, Warm Heart

**Chapter 2 - Cold Hands, Warm Heart**

"Aaagh!" John grimaced as the numbness in his hands fell away completely only to be replaced with an acute burning sensation. It was all he could do to keep his hands in the bucket of warm water as he'd been instructed. He stomped the wood floor hard in frustration as much as to distract himself from the pain.

Hearing the commotion, Sidney worriedly rushed back from her kitchen with another pitcher of warm water. "What's happening? Are you all right, John?"

"No." John said between grinding teeth. He gasped a few quick breaths then asked her, pleading. "How long do I have to do this?"

"Until your hands have thawed completely." Sidney sat down on the small coffee table to face him on the couch. She then leaned over to check on John's hands as they soaked in the bucket. She reached in and gently took out each one to examine. She was relieved to see that his skin was a more healthy color now and had softened significantly since they'd gone in the water. "Believe it or not, they look pretty good."

"They do?" He responded, surprised. "They feel like hell."

Sidney nodded. "They will for a while. Benji will be back soon with something for the pain." She took the pitcher of water and carefully added it to the bucket. "Look at it this way, pain means your feeling is returning."

"Right now, I'd rather it didn't."

She smiled at this attempt at dry humor. "I don't blame you." Noticing a trickle of moisture on his right cheek, just below his eye, she reached over and softly brushed it aside.

John cleared his throat in chagrin. "That's just… uh… sweat." He explained. "I wasn't crying, or anything."

Sidney nodded, not that she believed him. "Of course not."

John cleared his throat again and eagerly changed the subject. "How do you know all this stuff, anyway?"

"Oh, uh…" Now Sidney was the uncomfortable one. "I spent some time in nursing school."

John raised an eyebrow, not liking the sound of that. "Spent some time?"

"I had to drop out for a little while," She explained. "Finances, you know."

"Oh." John had a feeling there must be more to it, but didn't press. He had other questions in which he was more and more interested. "So… does that kid live here with you?"

"Yeah." She answered, though she had a feeling she wouldn't like where the conversation was going.

"He's not your little brother." John pointed out. "He looks nothing like you."

"No, he's not my brother."

John pondered this moment longer, then asked, more than a little mortified at the possibility. "He can't possibly be your boyfriend."

"No, he's not my boyfriend." Sidney responded defensively. "I've got a few years on him, if you hadn't noticed."

This fact hadn't been immediately obvious to him, as she was shorter than average and far younger looking than she behaved. The boy on the other hand was taller than his roommate and not nearly as mature.

John pressed her further in an effort to understand. "He's not your brother and he's not your boyfriend, so why's he living here with you?"

"Look, I really don't want to talk about that, okay?"

"Why not? I'm just making conversation."

"Well, I don't like the conversation you're making." She stood up and walked over to turn on the small television across from the couch. After a pressing a few buttons and fiddling with the antennae that sat on a clear picture and sound of a news report emerged.

A "Breaking News" graffic flashed on the lower part of the screen while a female anchor announced, "Government officials have confirmed that the devastating attack on Alcatraz Island today was orchestrated by the mutant known as Magneto, leader of the terrorist group calling themselves The Brotherhood of Mutants. The Brotherhood was also responsible for an attack on a New York clinic supplying the Worthington Cure earlier this week - injuring several in and around the clinic. Today's attack however was fatal -"

"What were you doing there?" She asked, a little cautiously. "Are you part of the Brotherhood?"

He knew better than to tell the truth. "Me? Nah… I was just… in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Once again, Sidney wasn't so sure he believed him. "And the frostbite and concussion?"

John had long been an adept liar but even he couldn't come up with a convincing explanation. "Like I said, wrong place, wrong time."

The newswoman continued her commentary, "It is being reported that a great deal of the devastation, which included hundreds of deaths and the destruction of Alcatraz Prison itself, was brought on by a woman dubbed 'Dark Phoenix' by the military."

'Dark Phoenix…' John thought to himself, 'They must mean Dr. Grey…' He attempted to piece together the events of the night as best he could, though the knock on his head left his memory a little fuzzy. 'How did I get up to the bridge? I was knocked out.' His brow furrowed as he tried to remember. 'Bobby knocked me out and then…' John sighed and almost laughed when he realized. 'Stupid son of a bitch must have carried me up there, like we were still buddies or something... But then what happened?' John soon recalled he had awoken where Bobby had left him. He could see his old roommate, in a now unfrozen state, going back to help others escape. Jean Grey, or whatever had taken over her body, had become enraged and launched a fierce attack on those unfortunate enough to be in her sightline. 'And the Professor said I had rage issues…' He remembered getting up onto his feet and trying to flee but the rush of panicked soldiers and mutants quickly caught up with him. He was knocked to the pavement, flat on his stomach. 'Magneto…' John recalled seeing his mentor now. 'He saw me lying there…' John remembered calling out for help but the old man had a look in his eyes his young protege had never seen before - fear. 'He didn't help me… he left me…'

In truth, the revelation shouldn't have shocked John so. Three years loyalty was nothing compared to Mystique's commitment to Magneto and his cause and he'd done much the same to her. But still it stabbed at his heart. Though he never voiced his feelings, John had begun to think he'd found the father figure he'd always wanted. Erik had even called him "son" on occasion. That was all in the past now. 'He just left me there to die.'

Sidney glanced away from the television and noticed John's pale, melancholy expression. "You okay?"

"Uh…" He sighed, trying to clear his head. "Yeah, yeah… I'm just… peachy."

"We could watch something else, if you want." Sidney said, adding offhandedly, "at least until Jammer comes back."

"Why's that?"

She just smiled and replied. "You'll see."

As if on cue, the teenager burst through the door carrying a while plastic bag. With his return, the television, which had shown a clear strong reception up until that moment, immediately turned into a grey crackling mess.

"Heyyyy… people. The Jam Man is in the house!" He hopped over the couch and landed lightly between Sidney and John.

"I trust my car is still in one piece."

"Yeah. You need to get hooked up with a CD player or something but other than that it's fine."

Sidney took the bag from Benji then held out her hand expectantly.

Benji just gave her an innocent look. After a moment or two, her forbidding stare wore him down and he stuffed a hand into his pocket to recover the set of keys he had been hoping to hold onto a bit longer. "Here."

"Thank you." She placed the keys in the pocket of her hooded sweatshirt as she got up and walked over to John.

"Hey listen, can I borrow the car tomorrow night? I think I'm gonna have a hot date."

"Oh, really with who?" Sidney inquired, pulling out a bottle of medicine from the bag. She sort of half listened to her friend as she read the directions for dosage and safety before opening it.

"Melissa James. She is completely off the hook hot."

"And what makes you think she'd go out with you?" John asked spitefully, still wondering, 'What the hell is she doing hanging out with this dorky kid?'

Ignoring the jibe, Benji continued speaking to Sidney. "You know old man Worthington's son Warren? The one that the girls get all droolie over? Turns out… he's a mutant too."

John and Sidney looked at each other at a loss for words. Finally Sidney spoke up. "Yeah, and…?"

"Don't you see? Melissa is gonna be all over me when she realizes she's into mutants."

"Sounds like you're setting yourself up for a fall, buddy." Sidney cautioned him.

John had heard enough. "You know, I hate to interrupt this fascinating conversation but what the hell happened to the TV?"

"That would be my bad." Benji announced, "Sorry, can't help it."

"Huh?" John looked from the boy to the crackling television set and back again.

"He's right." Sidney explained. "It's his mutation. He seems to disrupt any and all radio and air waves. I can't even use the microwave when he's around."

"Yeah…" Just when John thought the kid couldn't get any dorkier. "That's a real useful mutant power, good luck with that."

Sidney picked up a glass of water that had been sitting next to John on the side table and kneeled down next to him. Her outstretched hand revealed two white pills which John soon realized would be impossible for him to pick up and put in his mouth with his hands in their current condition.

"Don't worry, my hands are clean." She reassured him.

With that, he leaned down and softly mouthed her palm to retrieve the medicine. His lips lingered there a moment, as he caught scent of the soft lavender perfume on her wrist.

Sidney let a very slight, shy laugh escape her lips. It had been a while since anyone had looked at her quite the way this young man was looking at her now. Though she still had questions about John's past as well as his present, she did enjoy his attention. Coming back to her senses, she then offered John a drink of water. He eagerly gulped it down as she held it for him.

Once he'd had enough, she placed the glass back on the table behind her. Meanwhile, Benji had gotten up and turned off the flickering television set - creating one those awkward silences John had always dreaded.

"So… uh…" John started, trying to think of something cool to say.

"So…" Sidney started, wondering what was going on in John's head.

"A-HEM!" Benji cleared his throat loudly and with purpose.

"So…" Failing to come up with anything better, John's sarcasm readily returned. "You people ever hear of cable?"


End file.
